The clarion., 1887-11-02

was their profound conviction that il
was safe and solvent institution"
Secondly, That it possessed the conf
dence of, and had for stockholders. the
best business men and banks in Eng
land, in the United States, and in thii
State"
| Thirdly, That "the Legislature had
made the most wise and conservative
provisions to secure its solvency."
FOlrthty, Tha: there was no other
available method of investment, and
that this investment was really as safe
as any other would have been, because
the same crash that broke the Planters
Bank broke all the banks in the State
and most of those in the Southern and
| Western States, and State treasures.
Filthy, That the State invested all
other trust funds there, and if 1t is held
liable for the Seminary Fund, then it
| should be held liable for the Literary
Fund, etc.
The Senator'S argument Is tissue of
sophistries from beginning to end. 1t
consists of assumptions of facts not
proven, of legal deductions not sound
and ignores one of the most controlling
considerations in determining the States
liability. 1t runs counter to what seems
to me to be the unbroken current of
| contemporary testimony. For instance,
when he says that the bank resulted
| from "the most mature deliberation of
| the people" ETC., that must mean the
general judgment, since, if opinion were
divided about the matter, it plainly be-
hooved the State as a cautious trustee
to keep out of it. Yet, in his message
of 1874, Gov. Tucker, speaking of the
| Planters Bank Bonds, says, 81 had the
honor of seat in the House when the
law was passed which authorized their
issuance, | then considered
the project a reckless adventure, and there
fore recorded my cote against IL. H."-House
Journal 1914, p. %. This was at the
very Legislature that required the in
vestment of the Seminary Fund in the
| bank. And does not Gov. BROWN, of
whom the Senator says "there never was
a truer, nobler or more devoted servant
of the people of Mississippi, and there
was no abter one unless we except Mr..
Davis)," and who was man actively
engaged in politics, while all these
events were stirring and the Senator was
a Ueyy little boy-does not He say in his
message of 1913, House Journal, p. %,
"about one hundred thousand dollars of
the University Fund had been lost by
an IMPRovIDENT investment in Planters
Bank StockP' Now, which opinion are
we to take? There seems to be a differ
ence between the Senator and the two
Governors. And did not the Legisla-
ture of 1913, responding to that mes
sage, recognise the liability of the State
for that investment by sec. l, in the
manner | shall point out later? and was
not that Legislature composed OF men
in whose minds the whole transaction
and all its obscure circumstances were
fresh? and has not the Senator endorsed
that Legislature, albeit he seems not to
have understood exactly the true mean
ing of their action? Moreover, in his
message of 1886, Gov. Brown says em
phatically that "the State had no author
ity for inUesting'' this fund an the stock Of
ana bank" That some people were found
to put their money into it, and doubt
less very good people, is no answer
whatever to the proposition patent on the
very charters, that it was new and un-
tried scr ame, of untested ard unknown
management, set up in especially squally
times-iust as the great Bank of the
United States was in the throes of its
ruin-ard mapifestly intended as a sort
of substitute, so far as Mississippi was
concerned, for that institution. 1t is
an INGENIOUS but a wholly indefensible
sophism by which the Senator seeks to
iustify this investment by the State in
| it's capacity of prudent trustee, by the
fact that many good people had conf
dence in the concern, and put their
money into its stock, when it was the
very fact of the support of the bank by
| the State, with two millions of money,
and all other available funds which in
duced that confidence, after the State
had consented to give up its control of
| the board of directors, as will be now
| shown.
There was, moreover, no such scramble
for the stock of this bank amongst the
best people of this country and of Eu-
rome. as the Senator 5 article maintained
Quite the contrary. On the Sth Jauu-
ary. 1888, three years after the Bank
was Incorporated, and to the very Legis-
lature which ordered this investment OF
the Seminary Fund, Gov. Scott sends 8
message in these terms: ''The charter
(of the Planters Bank provides that
the Governor on the part of the State,
|, shall have the power of appointing, sub
iect to the rejection or confirmation oil
the Senate, seven out of thirteen of the
directors. The right thus conferred
upon the Executive and Senate, MAX Es
THIS INSTITUTION ESSENTIALLY A GOV
ERNMENT BANK" (mark this; it IS i'm
, portant in another connection,
} Experience has abundantly tested the
truth of the observation that govern
ment banks are injurious to the morals
and liberties of the State, and dangerou
, to the liberties of Individual stockhold
! ers. So firmly is this truth established
! with the commercial and banking por
4 tions of our community, that large P0r
\ ton of the pirate stock OF this Bank n
4 mains. and a0W remain Udcant
\ ,tnIess this Tedture shall become altered.
n And vet, there was only one million t
be disposed of, and it had been thre
n wears. and the State gaze up one Of a
directors, to ind.tce priuate indiUtdudls
n inuest in the stock.
= Again: 1t seems large assumr
ton, that because there was no bel
0 ter bank-stock to buy, and no raj
road stocks in existence, and th
State could not borrow,-that ther'
fore there was nothing left in which t
invest the Seminary Fund except ban
stock" i e., the Planters Bank stock,
% presume. / have never yet heard, i
i the history of Mississippi, of the perio
10 when $500. 10000 could not have bee
# easily loaned out at good interest on th
best of security or when it could NJ
f easily have been invested in proftabl
IS improved real estate (saying, OF cours
v the conyulsion of the late war;. If tn
cr@aI 1aon1 n01ld M +
K made, then doubly great was the folly
s putting the money i1to a concern o
). ganized for the purpose of carrying Q
b That very business. Given the propo,
ct ton, sit is impracticable to lend OIL
{. $500, 100000 safely and proftably
d. therefore, we will add unto that su
T. sundry millions more and lend $4,000
B. 10000 safely and proftably," is
IS course of reasoning rather QUESTIONED
DR. in logic. What is the divinity that do
hedge in bank" whic hwill enable it
i'd invest well, where diligent State officia
at cannot? Can bank reverse "the maxi
ry of philosophers, that nothing can con
OF from nothing, or as the Romans exPre'
lis ed it. er nihil0 nil potest gigni," and crea
ed profit where there is no place for
pit vestment? 1t seems as if the "gre
no serpent, anu tine gfcas tuld a.
the ssshadowy inane-the stuff th
5y dreams are made of," have something
it, say to that proposition. There is 20
at little footprint, which indicates th
err this difficulty of the Senator's had
Dr. existence in fact; sections "a and 25
in the charter provide that the loans of t
re- bank shall be apportioned amongst t
al districts of the State; which looks as
the Legislature thought the mon
in would not be very difficult to place,
to rather that it would be in demand.
as doubt whether the bank broke for Wa
OF lof borrowers of its money. The du
ar- Of the State. which it failed to dischar